Mahou Rider Ryukendo: Climax Jump!
by Variable Zero
Summary: Due to an evil force long gone, several realities are now playing host to alternate versions of the very heroes who defeated it. One such reality, the world of Negima, is now hosting two such heroes. One holds the sword of an ancient king, while the other holds the power of time. How will these two affect this world's future? GekiRyu Henshin! Their power is the real deal!


_**OathToOblivion: **_**...Zero, why do we keep coming up with more and more ideas?**

_**Variable Zero:**_** I don't know Oath. Maybe it's because you need to make a one-on-one crossover with everyone on our forum?**

**_OathToOblivion:_ Well, technically speaking, CB and I don't have one. Anyway, this story was actually thought up by Zero. I'm taking a back-seat to this one.**

**_Variable Zero:_ Because Oath here knows next to nothing about two of the main crossover elements. Though I know one of them by heart the other I barely know thanks to Kamen Rider Chrome, and a whole lot of research.**

**And as a few of you have probably noticed by now, I changed by Penname to the one that I use on Spacebattles, just to clear up any confusion.**

**And for those of you who have been anticipating my next chapter of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Rebirth, sorry for taking so long, but I don't really feel like working on it. Sorry.**

**_OathToOblivion: _I know a _few_ things about Negima...But let's get started, why don't we?**

* * *

The first thing that anyone thinks when they wake up in the morning depends entirely upon who is waking up. For some, it's "Five more minutes." For others, it's "Where's breakfast?" But for one young man, his first thought that morning was "Where's my bed?" And this question was not because he rolled onto the floor in his sleep, but because he felt wet grass beneath his fingertips.

He sprung up wide awake due to the contact with the moisture and looked around, noting that he was most definitely not in his room and that he had no idea where he was. He then looked at himself and noticed his current apparel, which confused him, for he was sure that he fell asleep in his own bed while dressed in his pajamas. Instead, he was wearing a hooded jacket, a white t-shirt, black pants, and sneakers. Now that he thought about it, he knew for certain that he had removed his glasses before going to bed, yet he could see everything in fine detail.

"Okay, either I'm dreaming, I've entered another world, and-slash-or I'm in an SI fic," the young man contemplated. "And there's only one way to find out if the first is true or not." He then flicked his head with his right hand. The dull pain he felt confirmed that the first option was not viable. "Okay, I'm awake. There's only one way to tell if I've entered the reality that some alternate version of myself is dreaming up. But to do that, I need to find a reflective surface."

With that thought in mind, the young man got up and finally took note of his surroundings, only for his jaw to drop at the sight before him.

"That's a big tree."

Indeed, it was a big tree. Too big in fact. If he had anything to compare it to, he would have said that it was bigger than the tallest skyscraper he had ever seen.

"Surprised by one of our seven wonders?" an amused voice called out from behind. When the young man turned around, he froze at the sight of something that should have been impossible. For the voice belonged to someone whom he thought was merely fictional.

_'In another world? Check,'_ the young man thought to himself as he recovered from the sight of one Takamichi Takahata, teacher of Mahora Academy, and a character from the Anime/Manga Negima?!.

* * *

_**(1 hour later)**_

"Ho ho ho!" a jovial old voice rang out. "I must say, you surprised us with your sudden appearance young man!" The voice belonged to an old man, with a strangely shaped head, a white ponytail, and a long white beard. This older man was Konoemon Konoe, Dean of Mahora Academy and Chief of the Kanto Magic Association, not that anyone outside of the other two people currently in his office knew about that.

"You're not the only ones surprised," muttered the young man that the dean was speaking to. After meeting Takamichi on the grounds outside, he was 'escorted' to the dean's office for interrogation. While on the way, the young man got a good look at his reflection in one of the reflective windows, and noticed that his face had changed a bit since he last saw it. If anything, it looked reminiscent of Kirito from Sword Art Online, excepting the brown eyes. But back to the present. "Though I don't get why you're treating me so well," the young man continued, "considering that I'm technically trespassing. I would of thought that you'd hand me over to the police or something."

"Well, considering your way of trespassing wasn't exactly normal, we decided to keep this as quiet as possible," Takamichi answered.

"Indeed," Konoemon spoke up. "Your way of arrival was rather amazing."

The young man was thinking of ways to respond before the word 'arrival' registered in his brain. "Wait, by any chance did you find me after a meteor struck or something?" The question caught both older men by surprise.

"Yes, we did," Takamichi answered seriously. "Though I'm surprised. How did you reach such a conclusion?"

The young man contemplated how to answer before looking at the dean with a serious glint in his eye. "First, I'd like to have a question of my own answered." The two older men looked each other in the eyes before agreeing. "How many years since Nagi Springfield, The Thousand Master, disappeared from the face of the Earth, leaving his only son Negi Springfield in the care of his cousin Nakane Springfield?"

The young man's question caught both of the older men completely by surprise. Of course, Konoemon, having more experience, recovered first. "Well, I believe that was around ten years ago. Though I'm curious how you know about that. You don't give off the feeling of a Mage."

"That's because where I come from, magic doesn't exist except in fiction," the young man answered. "And where I come from, all three of those names belong to characters from a Japanese manga called Negima. I know of a lot of other characters as well. One of which is Asuna Kagurazaka, or should I say, Princess Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia of Mundus Magicus, who possesses the ability of Magic Cancel, the power to destroy and nullify all magic that she comes into physical contact with." That last sentence rendered both of the older men speechless. Takamichi regained his speech first.

"Y-you're not joking. You really know all of this from a manga?"

"He speaks the truth, Takamichi," Konoemon confirmed. "This young man is from another world. One where we are all fictional characters." The dean stroked his beard for a moment before he spoke again. "How exactly does young miss Asuna's story end, persay?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that sir," the young man denied.

"And why is that, exactly?" Takamichi questioned sternly.

"That's because," the young man paused for dramatic effect. "Spoilers!" Takamichi face faulted at the proclamation while Konoemon just laughed.

"Ah, I see, Timey Wimey problems and all of that?" At the young man's surprised expression, the dean continued. "Oh don't look so surprised. I've watched my fair share of Doctor Who. Best Sci Fi Show I've ever seen! But back to our earlier question. If you're from a world where we are all fictional, how did you get here? And how did you know how you arrived?"

"Well, it's rather complicated." The young man scratched his head while Takamichi recovered from the face fault. "How much time do you have before class starts?"

"Today's Sunday, so we have no need to worry about such things," the dean responded. Then, a large growling sounded throughout the room, making all three men look rather embarrassed. "Though we can discuss this over breakfast."

* * *

"Well, that was fulfilling, wasn't it?" Konoemon asked. The three had moved to one of the local eateries to get some breakfast so that they can think clearly.

"I have to admit, that was pretty good," the young man commented. "And as far as I know, this is the first time I've ever tried foreign food!"

"Well, you certainly must have liked it, considering that you ordered a second helping," Takamichi teased. This caused the younger man to rub his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that. Any way I could repay you?"

"You can repay us by continuing our conversation," the dean replied, bringing the three back to serious business. "Now, about my question earlier?"

The young man thought for a moment before speaking. "Well first, we don't have to worry about being eavesdropped by any of the students, would we?"

"Why would you be worried about that?" Takamichi questioned.

"Because I grew up with the story and practically know it by heart," the young man responded. "If that information got into the wrong hands, such as a certain centuries old vampire girl for example, who knows what could happen." Takamichi didn't respond, simply because he realized the danger as well and looked around for any potential eavesdroppers. The dean, on the other hand, didn't look nearly as concerned.

"Oh, you boys worry too much. I realized just how valuable this information could be the moment we left the office, so I've placed a simple barrier around us that will make it so no one knows what we're talking about," the dean explained. "Well, so long as we don't give off too much body language, that is." This calmed down his companions enough to return to the subject matter.

"Okay then." The young man took a deep breath before speaking up again. "Back home, I work on an online writer's forum with some friends of mine, where we come up with all sorts of ideas for stories. At one point, we were working on a big role-play project called Remnants of Worlds. In this story, all of us wrote up a version of ourselves that merged together with fictional characters that we had dressed up as, and then got thrown into a world called Remnant. The way that the locals knew that we had arrived would be the fact that we landed from the sky."

"Thus the meteor from last night," Konoemon spoke having reached that very conclusion. "I can see how you realized how you entered our world, but do happen to know what sent you here?"

The young man was about to answer, but then stopped in confusion. After a few minutes of thinking, he shook his head dejectedly. "No, I don't. I know that I should know why, because it's the same reason why the characters in Remnants got there, but I can't remember."

"Are you sure?" Takamichi asked intently. The young man nodded his head, causing Takamichi to look towards his boss. "What do you think it means?"

"I'm not sure," the dean replied. "But if this young man can't remember how he got here, I'm not sure if we could find the answer ourselves. Oh! That reminds me, young man." Said young man looked towards the dean. "I was rather rude earlier. I never asked your name."

"Oh, my name? It's nothing too important, just-" the young man stopped mid sentence in confusion. "It's just..."

"Just...?" Konoemon repeated. The young man now looked rather distressed.

"I can't remember," he finally admitted, shocking the older two. "Why can't I remember?"

"Amnesia?" Takamichi asked his employer.

"I don't know," the dean responded. "If that were the case, he would've forgotten everything, including the magical world." He then turned his attention to the young man, no, the boy in front of him and placed a calming hand upon his shoulder, causing him to look up. "Calm yourself my lad. I may not know what is afflicting you, but memories do not go away forever. If you simply give it time, your memories will return to you. Do you understand?"

The boy rubbed his eyes a bit before nodding his head. "Y-yes sir. Thank you."

"It is no problem." Konoemon smiled in his grandfatherly way. "Now, what should we call you until the time of your memories' return?"

The boy thought it over for a few minutes before answering. "Shirou. That's what I would like to be called. As for my family name, I will choose Wright, because I remember that to be my mother's maiden name."

"Shirou Wright," Konoemon repeated. "I think it suits you well. Takamichi-kun? Could you give young Shirou-kun here a tour of the campus? I've got some paper work to get to."

"Of course sir," the aforementioned teacher responded. With that said, the old principal went his way, leaving the newly christened Shirou alone with Takamichi. "Follow me please." And so the two left for the tour.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the nearby bus stand, a random female was steamed. Her boyfriend didn't even have the decency to break up with her in person; he just sent a text message instead!

"Ooh! I've had it up to here with men! I wish they'd all disappear!" she ranted to herself. Just as her bus arrived, a yellow orb lazily floated down from the sky and impacted her back. Her eyes flashed, and she suddenly let off a bunch of sand. The sand started forming a shape behind her, but she got on her bus and left before it could coalesce. It merged together into a creature shaped in the form of an anthropomorphic bat. This was an Imagin, but more specifically, it was the Bat Imagin.

The Bat Imagin was calm, despite his contractor having gone off on her own. He had left a piece of himself behind, just in case. Using that, he'd be able to find her again. But for now, he had a contract to fulfill.

**"You want men to disappear, huh? Well, that'll be a tall order... but I'm sure I'll manage,"** he grinned creepily. Then he turned his attention to Mahora. The greatest mass of males in the current area was over there.

**"I think I'll start there,"** he mused, before flying off.

* * *

After the emotionally trying breakfast, Shirou and Takamichi spent the next few hours going around the campus and seeing the sights. Though while they were trying to enjoy the scenery, the atmosphere around the two was tense due to varying reasons. For Takamichi, it was the thought that a young civilian got caught up in the madness that was the magical world just because he read about it in a manga. That, and he was worried about what the future may hold considering that said civilian knew Asuna's real name. Shirou, on the other hand, was tense due to his scrambled memories, along with what he suspected to be the real reason for his little 'tour'.

Takamichi decided to break the awkward silence. "So, how exactly did you find out about 'that' information?"

"Which one?" Shirou replied. "About the vampire or the princess?" He decided to be vague about it for secrecy's sake. 'The walls have ears,' as they say.

"The vampire would have come out eventually, knowing his father's luck," Takamichi answered just as vaguely. Shirou could tell that by 'he' Takamichi was talking about Negi.

"I'm afraid I can't give too much away," Shirou admitted in a joking tone. "'Spoilers,' after all. All I can say is that the big reveal was due to a meeting with Fate." Takamichi didn't look like he got the double meaning of his words, so he just moved on to what he really wanted to ask. "Though considering that I answered your question, can you answer a question of mine?"

"Oh, sure, go ahead and ask," Takamichi replied.

"Why haven't you made me forget?" Shirou asked bluntly. That stopped Takamichi in his tracks completely. "Isn't it common protocol to erase a civilian's memories if they find out the truth about 'you-know-what'?"

Takamichi swallowed. He looked around to see if anyone was around, but thankfully the street they were on was slow in business, so there weren't any eavesdroppers. "You mean aside from the fact that I'm not a real user of 'you-know-what'?" he started off jokingly before sighing. "To tell the truth, your case is special. While it's true that you know far more than you should, the point is that you practically grew up learning about that information. We don't know the side effects of erasing so many years' worth in memories. Not to mention the fact that we don't know your real name or where you come from, so we can't handle this as easily as we do with normal civilians."

"Normal, huh," Shirou muttered. "I doubt I'm much different from normal civilians." Takamichi looked confused at this statement, so he continued. "I may have fallen through some dimensional portal, but that doesn't instantly mean that I have super powers or something. Even with knowledge of the future, a normal human like me can't really affect it."

Takamichi contemplated his next answer before putting a hand on Shirou's shoulder. "You shouldn't look down on yourself so much. It would be kinda depressing to only think like that."

"But-!"

"No buts!" Takamichi interrupted. "Just because you don't have powers doesn't mean you aren't special. In fact, you don't even need special powers or skills to make a difference."

"I don't?" Shirou asked.

"Correct. All one needs to make a difference, is an unbreakable will," Takamichi then pointed to Shirou's chest. "And a strong heart." Shirou looked awed for a moment before smiling in a cheeky way.

"You do realize that sounded cheesy as hell, right sensei?"

"Hey! I thought it sounded inspirational," Takamichi retorted jokingly. The two laughed for a moment before someone screamed out, causing them both to look in the direction of the scream. Smoke was billowing up from that direction! "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Shirou replied. "But I think I'm going to find out!" Just as he said that, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the sight of the situation.

"Hey, wait! That's dangerous." Takamichi was not too far behind.

* * *

"Gh." Somewhere else, not too far away, another young man regained consciousness. Gradually, he climbed back to his feet and took inventory of himself. He was wearing cargo pants, a black and white button-up pinstripe shirt, and a red jacket. Adjusting his glasses, he took in his surroundings. The thing that caught his attention was a giant tree off in the distance.

"Woah. I don't even think California Redwoods grow that large," he noted in surprise.

_'Now, let's see. How the hell did I even get here? Come to think of it, where is here? Wasn't it winter last time I checked? Bah, whatever!'_ he thought to himself, trying to figure out what was going on.

"This doesn't make any sense," he muttered, shaking his head. As he did, he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Curious, he went over to whatever it was. To his surprise, he recognized what it was.

"A Rider Pass?" he said in surprise. It was indeed the black train pass used in Kamen Rider Den-O, complete with the Den-O logo on it. He proceeded to bend over to pick it up. "I guess someone lost it," he guessed.

_'Although why someone would be playing with toys out here confuses me,'_ he thought, scratching his head. Suddenly, a scream and dust cloud from the direction of the tree attracted his attention.

"Yikes! Something tells me my questions are going to be answered over there," he guessed, running off to wherever that was.

* * *

Gandolfini was not having a good day. After going through his usual Sunday routine of spending time with his family and finishing grading papers early, he decided to walk around the campus to find something to do with his free time. And just when he stopped by the World Tree Plaza to rest, a strange bat-like creature swooped in out of no where and attacked him! Thankfully, he still had some weapons hidden in his clothes to fight back with, but the damage ratio between himself and the creature was not in his favor.

"Move left!" a voice called out. Gandolfini instinctively did so, just in time to avoid an Iaiken strike. Recognizing the technique, he turned to see his fellow teacher Takamichi Takahata and a boy he didn't recognize (Who was obviously Shirou).

"Gandolfini-sensei! Are you okay?" Takamichi inquired. Gandolfini winced from his injuries.

"Not as much as I'd like to be," he admitted. "I tried some of my stronger spells, but they didn't even seem to phase it!" That comment got the expected reaction. "Thankfully I still had a few weapons to defend myself, but I've barely even scratched him at this point."

"Magic Immunity?" Takamichi wondered aloud. "How's that even possible?" Shirou wasn't as concerned as much about the magic immunity part. What concerned him was just what the bat creature was.

**"I'm surprised! That actually hurt more than I expected!"** the Bat Imagin laughed, feeling quite confident in his eventual success.

"No way!" Shirou exclaimed. "An Imagin?!"

"A what?" the two teacher's unified reply shocked Shirou back into clarity. He had forgotten that they were there with him.

**"Oh? You know what I am? Well, that's interesting. Not that it matters. I've got a contract to fulfill after all,"** the Imagin grunted.

"And just what does this contract entail?!" Takamichi demanded.

"The contract is that he grants his host one wish, in return for their strongest memory," Shirou answered absentmindedly. "The real question is what his host wished for." Takamichi looked a bit surprised. How did Shirou know of this creature. Was it supposed to be in the story? Yet he looked shocked to see the creature even existing.

**"Yeah, that sounds about right. But it makes me curious how you know that, kid. You knowing that means that either you have a Contract of your own … or you're Den-O!"** the Imagin snarled.

"Huh?!" Shirou was caught off guard at that declaration. "Hey, you got the wrong guy! I'm not Den-O, or a contract holder! I'm just an ordinary human!" That comment got a surprised look from Gandolfini.

**"Like it matters!"** the Imagin yelled out as he suddenly boomed towards the boy, only to be intercepted by Takamichi's Iaiken again. While the Imagine was distracted, the teacher spoke in a quiet enough voice that the bat couldn't hear.

"Shirou, I need you to get yourself and Gandolfini-sensei out of here. He's in no condition to fight."

"But what about you?" Shirou questioned. He knew that Takamichi was strong. You don't get the nickname _Death Glasses_ for nothing. But Imagin were quite powerful creatures, and apparently immune to magic. He was worried that Takamichi's Kankaho wouldn't be as effective against it.

"Don't worry," the teacher smiled reassuringly. "I've been fighting since I was younger than you after all." Shirou still looked worried, but nodded in conviction before carrying Gandolfini up the stairs to get out of the way.

Once Shirou and Gandolfini were out of harm's way, Takamichi looked back to the creature which had recovered from the strike. His face showed that the teacher was done talking. "I don't know what this is about, but that boy is under my care," the war veteran declared as he got into his personal fighting stance. "So I will not let you hurt him!"

**"You can try all you want. I will complete my Contract!"** the Imagin declared, lunging at him.

* * *

While Takamichi was fighting the Bat Imagin, Shirou had gotten Gandolfini to the top of the stairs for safety and so that they can keep an eye on the fight. To say that Shirou was frustrated would be an understatement. Here he was in a world of magic and monsters, and he was completely helpless against the monsters. It was only the thought of Gandolfini's safety that kept him from doing something stupid. As he looked towards the battle, he could see that Takamichi was definitely proving his reputation true, considering that he lasted this long against an Imagin without any sort of Rider powers.

"Hey, kid," Gandolfini spoke up, getting Shirou's attention away from the fight. "Is what you said true? About being a normal human." Shirou looked understandably nervous at this question, considering what he knew of Gandolfini's reputation of being gung-ho when it came to keeping the secret of the magical world. But he practically shouted it out at the time, so he couldn't really deny it at this point.

"Yes, I'm a normal human," Shirou admitted. "And I know about the magical world, along with many other secrets that the public shouldn't know." Gandolfini looked shocked, but pressed on further.

"Does Takahata-sensei know about this?" Shirou nodded his head silently. Gandolfini looked livid at this answer. "Then why hasn't he erased your memories of this?"

"Because there's the chance that I could lose an equivalent to half of my life in memories?" That answer silenced the teacher quickly. "I don't like this either. Even though I know so much, I can't do anything to help."

Gandolfini saw the expression on the boy's face and calmed down a bit. He then thought of something that was mentioned recently. "You called that creature an Imagin, right?" At Shirou's confirmation, he continued. "What else do you know about it?" Shirou looked surprised at the question, so the teacher elaborated. "You may not be able to fight, but you have information that could be useful in this battle. Just what is that thing?"

Shirou thought it over before deciding to explain. "Imagin are people from destroyed timelines."

"What?" Gandolfini replied intelligently.

"I know that time travel is hard to believe, but it's true. Imagin are from a timeline that is no longer accessible. They will themselves back in time, but in the process lose everything about themselves. Their names, their memories, even their bodies. When they appear in our time, they make contracts with people. This grants them a physical form based on the host's thoughts. Then, once they complete the contract, they return to their contract holder and use their strongest memory to go back in time to that memory. They do that in the hopes of reconnecting time to their own timeline, but that would doom the current one."

"If what you say is true, then that creature is even more dangerous than the Dark Evangel," the dark skinned teacher deduced. "And if magic can't affect it, there's nothing we can do to stop it!"

* * *

_'This is going to be harder than I thought,'_ Takamichi thought to himself. So far he had been using his usual strategy of Kankaho powered Iaiken strikes, but only managed to marginally affect the 'Imagin'. It seemed that there was some merit to Gandolfini's claim of the creature being immune to magic.

Wait, Takamichi took a closer look at the creature. It appeared to limp a little on one side. When he thought about, it was the same side that he was using the fist powered by Ki. Wait, Ki!

_'That's it!'_ Takamichi thought as a plan came to mind. Meanwhile, the Bat Imagin was getting annoyed with this battle and quickly got into a stance that he thought would end it.

**"Say your prayers!"** the Imagin declared as it swooped in for a finishing strike.

_'I've only got one shot,'_ Takamichi determined as he focused a large portion of his Ki into both of his hands. He then fired an Iaiken strike towards the creature, and finally got the desired result of majorly hurting it.

**"GUAAAAA!"** the Imagin cried out in pain.

* * *

Shirou was amazed by the attack. Takamichi actually managed to score a big hit against the Imagin. Gandolfini was just as amazed, but also confused. He then stated his confusion aloud, "How did he do so much damage? I thought magic doesn't affect it!"

Shirou thought this over for a moment before he thought back to a certain conversation in the manga. "Bingo!" It was a tick of his to say that when he figured something out. "Hey, sensei, what's the difference between Magic Power and Ki again? You may just find your answer in that!"

The teacher was confused by the question but answered anyway. "Well, Magic Power is the spiritual power to collect the natural energies that is full in the atmosphere, and bringing it under the control one's own body. Ki, on the other hand, is the internal burning of one's own energy that resides within everyone."

"Which is why Magic Power is referred to as Spirit Power and Ki is referred to Physical Power," Shirou completed, having memorized the lecture long ago.

"But what does this have to do with Takahata's success?" Gandolfini asked, still quite confused. Shirou just smiled at his expression.

"Because the Imagin have no true bodies of their own!" Shirou exclaimed. "They need to form one from their hosts' memories. In other words, they use Spirit Power in order to exist in this timeline, allowing them to adapt to the external energies thus making them immune to any attack that uses external energy, like magic. But because they don't have a true body, the internal energy of Ki hits them deep within the void inside of them, doing quite a fair bit of damage. Those bodies aren't made to last after all."

Gandolfini was shocked by this explanation, and a little bit skeptical. "But if that were the case, then how come magical creatures aren't immune? They're formed from Magic Power as well."

"But unlike the Imagin, magical creatures' bodies aren't temporary," Shirou countered. "Imagin aren't of this timeline after all." He then looked back to the battle, seeing that things starting to look up.

* * *

Takamichi was feeling a bit exhausted. Due to the amount of Ki he used in that attack, it was rather expected. But, thankfully, it looked like the creature wasn't doing that well either. If he landed on more direct hit, then it was done for good.

The Bat Imagin realized this as well, and quickly tried to get back up and take initiative. **"I'm going to kill you! I'm not going to lose to some human!"** it cried before running towards Takamichi with the intent to kill. Unfortunately, it had forgotten that it could fly, otherwise it would still have stood a chance. For it ran at just the right angle for Takamichi to launch one last Ki Iaiken at it to cause it to explode!

Takamichi exhaled before falling to one knee in exhaustion. "That... was a close one," he stated.

* * *

"He did it!" Shirou exclaimed. He was surprised that an Imagin could be destroyed without Rider powers, let alone someone who wasn't another Imagin. Though his delight was cut short when he saw Takamichi fall to his knee. "Takahata-san!" he cried out as he ran down the stairs to check up on the teacher. Gandolfini soon followed, having recovered enough to get back up on his feet.

* * *

Meanwhile, a fair distance away, the Bat Imagin's Contractor lay asleep in her bed, taking a nap to try to take her mind off events. While she slept, sand fell off of her form. As it fell to the floor, it congregated and formed into something the Bat Imagin had left behind. Mainly, himself! The newly regenerated Bat Imagin didn't quite know what had killed his original, but he could sense just where he had died. **"Time to find out what killed me!"** he vowed, flying out the window at top speed.

Meanwhile, his Contractor just rolled over in her sleep, mumbling something about takoyaki.

* * *

After Shirou and Gandolfini (who Shirou just started to call Gan-san to make things easier on himself, much to the teacher's chagrin) had gotten to the same floor as Takamichi, they propped him up on the wall in a more comfortable position. Gan himself just got off the phone. "Paramedics will be here in ten minutes. We'll be back at full strength in no time."

"That's good," Shirou responded. "I don't want to think of what would've happened if Takahata-san hadn't won when he did. Imagin can be brutal towards their opponents."

"I think we learned that the hard way," Takamichi chuckled weakly. Then his expression turned serious. "Shirou, did those things come from your world?"

"His world?" Gan asked.

"It's a long story," Shirou said for Gan's sake. "As for the Imagin, no they did not come from my world. Back there, they're monsters from a TV show called Kamen Rider Den-O."

"So they're common knowledge where you come from?" Takamichi questioned.

"Well, common knowledge for Kamen Rider Otaku such as myself," Shirou explained. He was still surprised that Imagin even existed in this world, but was calmed down that they could still be destroyed by Ki techniques like the Bat Imagin was. The Bat...

His expression became alarmed. "We need to leave the area, now!"

"What's wrong?" Gan look perplexed. "Didn't Takahata destroy that creature?"

"He did, but that Imagin in particular isn't stupid," Shirou was on high alert. "The more intelligent Imagin have this annoying tendency to leave a backup of themselves within their hosts in the case that they die while completing a contract, sort of like uploading backup data on your computer."

"Wait, you mean it's still alive?!" Gan exclaimed.

"Yes! Which means we need to get out of here before-!" Shirou was interrupted by the sound of something landing a few feet away from them, creating a crater in the process. When the dust cleared, a very much alive Bat Imagin was revealed! "...before exactly that happens." Shirou finished lamely.

**"So...you're the ones who killed me, huh?"** the Bat Imagin's backup glowered.

It happened suddenly. Takahata and Gandolfini both rushed forward but were tossed back by the Imagin. Takahata's tiredness and Gandolfini's magic not doing anything made them easy picking for the Imagin, who just knocked them aside.

Shirou was shocked. He couldn't believe what just happened. Two of the strongest mages on campus were just defeated by the Imagin, and it was intending to finish them off. He was completely frozen by the fear of what could happen next. And the Bat was getting closer to them!

**"This is the end,"** the Bat Imagin declared calmly. But just as it was about to strike-!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Shirou cried as he grabbed onto the Imagin's back, stopping it in it's tracks. It tried to shake him off, but it was no good.

**"Damn kid!"** the Imagin growled, before suddenly flying into the air in an attempt to get Shirou off of him. But it didn't work, for Shirou's grip and determination were too strong. Of course his added weight caused the Imagin's flight pattern to be a bit erratic, causing it to go flying in random directions without control.

* * *

"This totally sucks." The other young man who had appeared today was not in a good mood, and who could blame him? He had no idea where he was, what he was doing here, or how he got there.

"Come on! Where is everybody?!" he complained. The only thing he'd been able to find out here was a freakin' toy Rider Pass! That didn't help at all!

_'Okay, let's take it from the top. I was at home, trying to write something. Do I just have Writer's Block or what? Anyway, I went to sleep late-ish, around 11:30. When I wake up, I'm here. And I haven't found anybody! Sheesh!'_ he thought to himself. If he found out who was responsible for tearing him away from his family, then they were going to get it!

Suddenly, a certain bat-like creature flew across the sky, flying haphazardly throughout the air. It flew across his field of vision and went out of sight.

"T-That was a-! But it couldn't be!" he stammered. He'd recognized the creature for what it was, but that was impossible, wasn't it?

He gritted his teeth. "As much as I really don't want to, if I'm going to get any answers, I gotta find that thing!" he decided, running after the creature.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a completely different realm inextricably linked to the main one, a bullet train thundered down through the endless sands. This was the Train of Time, DenLiner, on its way to its next destination. Of the various people on board, there was one in particular who was rather important.

Namely, a middle-aged man in a fine suit who was sitting in the Dining Car. This was DenLiner's Owner, enjoying some of his usual fried rice. But even the fried rice couldn't distract him from the slight concern he was feeling. Imagin were always a problem, but the sheer number of them that had appeared recently was mind-blowing. And they were all congregating on a specific area of time and space. That kind of behavior was unprecedented, and made Owner suspicious.

But there was nothing to do except try to deal with them. And with the Belt and Pass having been lost after... Well, the top priority was to find them, now wasn't it?

Owner's thoughts were interrupted when a voice resonated throughout the Car.

_"That boy."_

Owner blinked, surprised that _he_ of all people had finally started talking. Putting down his spoon, he took out a golden Rider Pass. "What's wrong, GekiRyuKen?" he asked.

_"That boy has potential."_ The voice echoed from within the Pass.

Owner wasn't quite sure who he was talking about, but if GekiRyuKen had found someone with potential, then-! "Are you certain?"

_"There's no doubt about it. His will, his desire to help those in need. He may be rusty, but he has the heart of a true knight. I can't think of any one else to be my partner."_

Owner considered this. If GekiRyuKen had found a partner, then this could work out. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't need to find the Belt. But he probably should anyway. Don't want just anybody walking around as Den-O. "Hmm. If you are certain, I shall send you to him," he stated, standing up and opening his Master Pass. From within, a light shone, forming into an amulet of sorts. With a snap of Owner's fingers, a small time portal opened up under the amulet, and it dropped through.

Meanwhile, the only other person in the Dining Car right now blinked. "Err, Owner. What was that about?" she wondered.

"It seems that old knight has finally found a new squire," Owner commented, settling back into his seat. "For now, Naomi-kun, please bring me some coffee."

"_Hai~!_"

* * *

**"You damn kid! Get off!"** The Bat Imagin was rather ticked that Shirou was still not letting go.

"No! If I let go, you'll just hurt more people!" Shirou exclaimed. "I may be weak, I may be a coward, and I may be just an ordinary human. But so long as I have some way of helping others, then I will absolutely not give up!" Just as he finished that declaration, a sort of rainbow portal appeared over them. And from that portal, a golden light shot out and hit the both of them, sending them to the ground. The main difference was that the golden light surrounded Shirou as he fell.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!"

* * *

**_(Several minutes later)_**

"Ow," Shirou groaned as he opened his eyes to see a blue sky. He would have thought he was dead if it weren't for the dull pain at the back of his head. "I'm alive." He then startled up. "How am I alive? The impact should have killed me." He idly noticed the decayed remains of ancient buildings, indicating that he was in the local ruins.

_"Do not lose focus,"_ a strange voice called out from his right side. He turned to find the source before his eyes laid upon a strange object, an amulet his mind told him, and picked it up with his right hand. It had the appearance of a blue arrowhead that could fit in his hand, though the top point looked like a piece of diamond shaped silver. The center of the amulet possessed the mold of a golden dragon head. For some reason it seemed familiar to Shirou as if he'd seen it before.

"Who are you?" he asked curiously. The dragon's eyes flashed red in indication that it was speaking.

_"I am GekiRyuKen,"_ the amulet declared.

"GekiRyuKen," Shirou repeated before the name finally settled into his mind. "EH?! As in Makai Swordsman Ryukendo's sword!" He was silent for another ten seconds before he held his free hand up to his face. "I'm delusional. I must have hit my head harder than I thought."

_"Thou art completely sane,"_ GekiRyuKen assured. _"Though that does not mean thou is out of danger."_ At that warning, a familiar voice yelled out across the ruins.

**"Where are you?!"** The Bat Imagin cried out. **"Come on out, you damn kid! You can't hide forever!"** Shirou got up to his feet and looked around for any escape route. There was only one, but that's where the Imagin's voice was coming from.

_"Explanations later,"_ GekiRyuKen got his attention again. _"Unsheathe me and enter the key." _

"But I don't know how to unsheathe you," Shirou argued. "And I don't have any keys on me."

_"Thou has a fair point,"_ GekiRyuKen admitted, before suddenly glowing in a golden light. _"Then I believe that I have no choice."_ Shirou suddenly felt as if the amulet was pulling his arm. And the brighter the light got, the stronger the grip the amulet had on him. What neither of them knew at the time was that the light was strong enough to attract attention from nearly every magical being in Mahora, as well as the Bat Imagin and a certain other dimensionally placed young man.

_"For now, I am taking control of thee."_ Suddenly, Shirou felt as if he had pushed into the backseat of his own body. Though from an outside perspective, his face just took on a determined look before shifting his hand with GekiRyuKen in it to his left side as if he were unsheathing a sword. A blue light flashed over said hand, and the amulet was replaced with a strange sword.

The blade had the appearance of a silver broadsword, with the tip in the shape of a diamond. It had a thick blue guard wrapped down to the bottom of the black hilt, which possessed a golden piece at the bottom of said hilt that looked as if it could be moved up and down. At the base of the guard was the same dragon head that was on GekiRyuKen Amulet Mode. This was GekiRyuKen Sword Mode.

The Bat Imagin followed the light and found his prey. **"Finally found you-huh?! What the hell is that sword?"** Shirou then brought the sword up and held it vertically, before moving the golden piece of the hilt up, causing the dragon head piece to move up as well, revealing a keyhole of sorts. He then held up a small hexagonal object from out of nowhere.

"Ryuken Key!" he declared as he pressed the face of the object, which looked just like the dragon head, revealing the shaft of a key. He then inserted and turned the key in the slot before sliding the golden piece down again, closing the dragon piece. "Set!"

_"Change: Ryukendo!"_ GekiRyuKen announced as Shirou held his arms to the side.

"GekiRyu Henshin!" Shirou cried before raising his sword, grasping it with both hands, then pulling it down to his chest. Then a blue Chinese dragon appeared to burst out of the blade and soared into the air. The mighty beast roared before flying down towards Shirou, who looked at it without fear (though the real Shirou was screaming by instinct) as he held his arms to his side, his sword in his right hand, and the dragon flew into his chest. Once it had entered, Shirou felt strength filling him up, as well as all of his own abilities going beyond human limits. As this process was going on, armor was forming on his body, until it finished with him raising his sword to his side, showing just how much he had changed.

He was clad in white and gold armor worn over a blue bodysuit. The upper torso of the armor had a white gem fitted in the center of the chest with strips of gold extending from four corners of the gem. The shoulder pads were diamond shaped and pointed upwards. The gauntlets had golden dragon-heads attached to the wrist which covered the back of his hands. Similar dragon-heads were attached to his boots at the ankles, covering his feet like shoes. The helmet was white and gold with a design reminiscent of a two horned dragon that was roaring. Within the 'jaws' was an opaque blue visor that concealed his face with a strip of gold running down the middle. The helmet was peaked by a golden crest.

The Bat Imagin was out right shocked at this development. **"Y-you're not Den-O! Who the hell are you?!"**

The armored Shirou then struck his sword to his left, while slowly bringing it towards his center. "Born with the light, the dragon fang! Slaying the demons within the darkness!" He then raised his sword to the sky. "Ryukendo!" He then slashed his sword a few times before striking a pose. "Raijin!"

**"Ryukendo?"** The Bat Imagin had never heard of this guy before.

"Foul demon!" Ryukendo pointed his sword at the Imagin. "Even if the Lord forgives thy actions, I Ryukendo will not!"

**"Who asked for your forgiveness?!"** the Imagine replied sarcastically before lunging at the blue knight. The Bat Imagin thrust his claw towards Ryukendo, only to be blocked and parried expertly. The knight then struck with great precision, dealing several slashes of damage to the Imagin's body at a rate of five slashes per second. When the Imagin tried to back away to gain some breathing room, Ryukendo spun around to gain momentum and dealt a great impact to the creature. When it tried to fly away, Ryukendo jumped up higher than a normal human could, and swung his sword downward at the Imagin and knocking it to the ground.

**"Damn it,"** the Kaijin panted. This Ryukendo-human used to be so weak, but the moment he got a sword and armor, he was beating him to the ground. Literally!

But unfortunately for the blue knight, his body was tiring rather quickly. It is to be expected when you take into account that his current host wasn't exactly used to such superhuman feats of skill and strength. He would have continued before he heard a cry from the side.

* * *

_**(Just a bit earlier..)** _

Meanwhile, the other person had run up to them, hidden from view by a tree. And he was utterly flabbergasted.

_'That's the Bat Imagin! And some weird Rider-looking guy. But that's not the point! There's an Imagin there!'_ he thought in shock. Unconsciously, he withdrew the Rider Pass he had picked up earlier, and stared at it.

"Does this mean this is a real Rider Pass?" he whispered to himself.

_'If Imagin are around, then this might be a real Rider Pass. And if it is, does that mean that I'm-? No! It can't be! I'm not a Singularity Point! I can't be Den-O!'_ he thought furiously to himself.

_'But, it was never explicitly stated that you needed to be a Singularity Point to be Den-O. It just helps protect you from timeline alteration.'_

"Am I really... Den-O?" he whispered. Upon uttering those words, sparkles of light formed around his waist into the Den-O Belt, which was unbuckled. He looked upon it with an aghast look. That meant that...the responsibility of protecting the timeline was upon him. And he hated it. He didn't want anything to do with it.

_'I've always hated responsibility. I'd rather just sit back and relax, and worry about nothing. I don't want to be the one thing that's protecting the timeline. It's too much for one person! But I pride myself on being, maybe not the best or the most moral person there ever was, but a good person regardless. And what was that one quote? "Evil goes unpunished when good men do nothing." How can I call myself a good person if I just walk away?!'_

_'Being a Rider. It sounds so cool, but if I do do this, I'll have to fight or die. And every Rider has had to fight alone at some point. Can I really do that? But even if this guy here is fighting Imagin, it's Den-O's job to fight them. And like it or not, I am Den-O. But I-I-'_

All these thoughts raced through his head, his doubts and fears. But the temptation of having the power to do the right thing kept growing and growing in his mind, until he finally snapped.

"Grr... I'm done thinking about it!" he yelled, attracting Ryukendo and the Bat Imagin's attentions. He quickly buckled the Belt to secure it around his waist and ran forward. As he did, it let off its standby indication. Something else that happened, unheard through his adrenaline, was that the Belt was giving off a short tune that sounded a bit like four descending notes played on a piano.

"Imagin! Your fight is with me! Henshin!" he declared, running the Pass over the Belt's Set Touch, the Den-O logo in the center of the Belt's Terminal Buckle. Upon swiping it across the Belt, the Belt responded by activating the Transformation. In the process, it gave off an acknowledgement.

_**-STRIKE FORM-** _

Blue train tracks erupted from the Belt, forming all over him. They merged together to form a bodysuit, with minimal armor. It was mainly black, with blue leg guards, knee guards, and gauntlets. The arms as well as the minimal chest armor was blue as well, and there were silver train tracks on his helmet and chest. White rectangles were traced on his arms and legs. There were also two holsters on each side of the Terminal Buckle, each one carrying two pieces of equipment.

More train tracks formed in a circle around him, armor appearing from seemingly nowhere. The armor circled him for a bit, before latching onto his chest and helmet. A turntable-esque piece of armor attached to his chest, the Den-O logo emblazoned on it. Blue shoulder pads attached onto his shoulder. 4 train track spikes flew out behind him from his shoulder pads and chest armor. Two small spikes attached around the mouth area, and a red angular peach-like visor attached to his helmet.

This was Den-O Strike Form, known to the people of his world as Kamen Rider New Den-O! Speaking of, Den-O realized that he was actually in Strike Form, and skidded to a halt next to Ryukendo.

"Strike Form, huh? Alright, that'll work," he muttered, before taking a combat stance.

Meanwhile, the Imagin was flabbergasted. **"Den-O?!"** he cried in surprise.

"You were expecting somebody else?" Den-O asked incredulously. Then he turned to Ryukendo. "So, who are you supposed to be?" he queried.

_'No way!'_ Shirou called out from within his mind. _'Kamen Rider Den-O? But, there's something familiar about him.' _Ryukendo noted these thoughts and filed them away for later.

"I am Ryukendo. Sir Den-O, thou and I possess a common enemy. Will thou lend thy assistance in slaying this demon, my fellow knight?"

"K-Knight?" Den-O repeated in surprise. "Uh, yeah, sure. It's kind of my job to get rid of Imagin, but I'm not going to say no to help. It's kinda my first day on the job, honestly," he said sheepishly. Then, he turned back to the Imagin, clutching his equipment holstered to his Belt, the four pieces of the Combination Armament DenGasher.

"Now, how does this go again?" he questioned, before he remembered. He grabbed the two pieces holstered to his left, the Gun and Axe pieces, and stacked them together horizontally. Then, he tossed it up into the air, grabbing the other two pieces holstered to his right, the Grip and Sword parts. Holding the Grip in his right hand and the Sword in his left, Den-O...immediately had to lean back so that he could grab the spinning part with the parts he was holding. Red electricity lanced through the three parts, before fusing together, a red blade extending from the Sword part.

"Phew! Momotaros makes this look easy," Den-O grunted, standing upright again and holding the DenGasher Sword Mode with both hands. "You ready?" he asked Ryukendo.

Ryukendo nodded his head. "Let us be finished with this fiend!" He then charged into battle with his new companion with great determination.

Ryukendo reacted first, striking with an overhead blow that the Bat Imagin struggled to block. Den-O then charged in and hacked away with the DenGasher. He stumbled slightly as he did so, leading the Imagin to kick him back into Ryukendo.

"Why you-!" Den-O roared, running after him again. The Bat Imagin blocked his swing with his arm, but Ryukendo recovered and swiped at his side, knocking him back a good few feet.

"Yah!" Den-O declared, leaping into a side kick. He kicked the Imagin back alright...but also fell to the ground in an inglorious heap. "Ow..."

"Art thou alright?" Ryukendo questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Den-O grumbled, rising back to his feet and rubbing his side. "Note to self, don't do that until I get more co-ordinated."

**"D-Damn you both!"** the Imagin yelled, attempting to fly up and attack from the air.

"Oh no you don't!" Den-O countered, quickly detaching the DenGasher and putting back together into Gun Mode. He first detached the Grip, causing the blade of the Sword to vanish. He then detached the Gun part and stacked the Axe and Sword parts together. He attached the Gun part on the end, then put the Grip at a 45 degree angle. Before the Bat Imagin could react, Den-O shot at him with the DenGasher, causing the Imagin to stutter in the air.

Then, Den-O turned back to Ryukendo. "Let's finish him off!" he declared, turning back to the Imagin and swiping the Rider Pass over the Set Touch again. The Belt reacted, forming the Den-O logo in white light in front of the Terminal Buckle.

_**-FULL CHARGE-** _

As energy gathered up in the Den-Gasher, Ryukendo swiped his hand over the Madan Holder on his right hip, causing several keys like his Ryuken Key to pop out. Of these keys, he pulled one out with the image of a dragon breathing fire engraved on it and turned it in GekiRyuKen. "Final Key! Set!"

_"Final Break!"_ GekiRyuKen announced as Ryukendo got into a stance.

Den-O swept his hands around in a circle, taking aim at the Bat Imagin as electricity lanced into the DenGasher from the Den-O Belt. When the power had built up enough, he fired. **"Wild Shot!"** he declared, shooting forward a purple energy ball from the DenGasher.

The large orb of energy managed to hit the Imagin, but didn't destroy it. But it did manage to make it stop moving in the air just long enough for Ryukendo to jump into the air and launch his own attack. His sword had charged up and he aimed it for a downward slash over the Imagin. **"GekiRyuKen: Madan Giri (Madan Slash)!"** The charged steel slashed deep through the Imagin, causing a glowing line to bisect it. Ryukendo then landed on the ground, rested his sword on his shoulder and looked towards the Imagin and declared the following words. "May the Lord have mercy upon thy soul."

With that said, he swung his sword down and the Bat Imagin exploded. And as this one was the backup, it would never appear again.

"Phew! That was close," Den-O sighed, putting the DenGasher down to his side. "Can't help but wonder what his Contract was, though," he muttered.

"Sir Den-O, I humbly thank thee for thy assistance," Ryukendo spoke, grabbing Den-O's attention. "Though I don't suppose I could ask for a favor?"

"Er, what's that?" Den-O wondered.

"Please be a friend to my partner," Ryukendo asked as a small wind started to kick up around him. "Through my link with him, I can tell that he is rather lonely. So I would like for thee to help him throughout whatever threat he comes across, and help him discover his past."

"Um...sure. What's his name?" Den-O asked.

"He calls himself Shirou Wright," Ryukendo answered as the winds grew ever stronger. "And he is going to faint into thy arms in about five seconds." As he finished that statement, the wind grew strong enough to obscure him from few, only to be replaced by Shirou and GekiRyuKen Amulet Mode a mere second later. He then fainted in Den-O's direction.

"Woah!" Den-O yelled in shock, grabbing the unconscious Shirou before he could fall. He gently lowered him to the ground, onto his back.

"Didn't see that coming. Shirou Wright, huh? What a weird mix of Japanese and English. It sounds kinda fake," he mused to himself, staring at Shirou.

"Ho ho ho! Well isn't this an interesting sight!" an amused voice exclaimed, catching Den-O by surprise. The Kamen Rider turned around to see a wizened old man floating behind him, along with several other adults who all possessed a serious demeanor. This was Headmaster Konoemon Konoe and the magic teachers of Mahora Academy (not that Den-O knew that)!

"Uh...hi?" Den-O said sheepishly, waving his hand. That was when he realized he was still holding the DenGasher...which was still in Gun Mode. Like he had touched a hot piece of metal, he tossed the DenGasher behind his back as fast as he could.

Konoemon just waved his hand in dismissal towards the action. "No need to be alarmed young man, we saw the whole thing. Though I must express my confusion as to how you acquired that Belt and Pass?"

Den-O wordlessly unbuckled the Den-O Belt and pulled it off his waist. His armor crumbled away into nothingness. "I don't see why I should really tell you. I don't even know who you are," he said suspiciously.

"Oh yes, where are my manners today," Konoemon admitted. "My name is Konoemon Konoe, Headmaster of Mahora Academy, and a friend of the DenLiner's Owner." The new Kamen Rider was quite shocked by this information, but was still a bit skeptical. Konoemon spoke up again. "But such discussion should be saved for later. Right now we need to get young Shirou-kun some proper medical attention." As he said this, a few of the teachers picked up Shirou while the Kamen Rider wasn't looking. "We can talk later in my office!"

* * *

_**(Two hours later...)** _

Shirou groaned as he awoke to find himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. "Why do I have the sudden feeling that an Evangelion reference was made?"

_"Probably because thou were the one who thought of it,"_ a familiar voice replied, causing Shirou to startle up fully awake.

"GekiRyuKen?! Where are you?" Shirou called out. He idly noticed that he was in an infirmary, and that he was still in his clothes from earlier, sans the jacket which was on a nearby chair.

_"I'm on the bedside table,"_ the magic sword answered calmly. Shirou looked to said table to find GekiRyuKen in his Amulet Mode. He picked him up and beheld him in slight awe, as the memories of what happened fully came back to him.

"That was amazing back there," Shirou commented. "Though I'm still a little peeved that you had to control my body."

_"I did not have a choice at the time,"_ the sword argued. _"Thou did not possess the knowledge to use me. Thus I needed to teach thee in a different way. Not to mention that despite what changes have overcome thy body, ye are still out of shape."_

"Tell me something I don't know," Shirou replied sarcastically. Even he noticed that while his body become a lot less chubby in his opinion, he was still rather bad when it came to physical activity, which was probably the reason for passing out earlier after the battle. He wasn't used to so many movements in such a short span of time!

_"Very well, I shall,"_ the sword ignored Shirou's sarcasm. _"Thou now possess all of my sword techniques."_

"What?!," Shirou exclaimed. "You can't be serious."

_"I am. If ye do not believe me,"_ GekiRyuKen glowed before being replaced by his Sword Mode, startling Shirou greatly. _"Then perhaps a demonstration is in order?"_

"In here?!" Shirou cried incredulously. "Something could get damaged! We need a lot more space for that kind of thing!"

"I suppose I could accommodate that," the amused voice of Konoemon offered, startling Shirou again.

"What is with you people and scaring the life out of me?!" Shirou exclaimed. He then noticed the three extra guests. "Oh, Takahata-san, Gan-sensei, you've recovered."

"Well, like Gandolfini said," Takamichi replied cheekily. "A few healing spells and we're back at full strength." The third guest was rather frustrated at being left out.

"So!" he said loudly, attracting everyone's attention. "Shirou Wright, huh? Sounds kinda fake if you ask me," he mentioned.

"Hey! How about you try to find something to call yourself when you can't even remember your own name!" Shirou argued. The feeling of familiarity only continued, what with the guy he knew to be a Kamen Rider snarking at him...

Wait, Kamen Rider. Snarking. Red Jacket, brownish skin, dark hair, and glasses. For some reason, all of those elements were piecing something together in Shirou's mind but he couldn't figure out what.

"Oh wonderful, the stereotypical amnesiac," the other snarked. Then he sighed. "Sorry. It's been a rough day. Who expects to be tossed into the middle of Japan after a long day?"

"Wait, tossed in the middle of..." Shirou's eyes widened as something very important finally came back to him as he pointed his free hand at the Kamen Rider. "SI!"

"Huh?/!" the other occupants responded intelligently, though the natives' responses were of confusion while the Rider's response was more surprise.

"You woke up in the middle of Japan, conveniently with the powers of a superhero, and just so happen to fight off a monster that is said hero's enemy! Those are all of the signs of a Self-Insert Fic!" Shirou declared.

"No offense, but my first thought when this kinda thing happens ain't exactly that I'm in fanfiction. In fact, I'd put whoever thought their life was fiction for real into the loony bin. Maybe this is the hallmarks of an SI, but that doesn't mean anything. This is real life," the Rider criticized.

"Nonetheless, you are extremely familiar to me, and this sort of situation only happens to one person that I can think of so frequently, and that's you, OathToOblivion!" Shirou declared dramatically.

"Oh, so you're from Shirou-kun's world?" Konoemon asked, getting the gist of the conversation. "Maybe. Or we could be from separate worlds that just happen to be similar. For all I know, he's from a world where the Nazis won WWII or something," the Rider shrugged.

"No, that didn't happen in my world, otherwise Inglorious B****ards wouldn't have been made," Shirou countered.

"I'd hate to interrupt this important conversation," Gan interjected. "But just what is that sword? From what the reports told me, that was responsible for that enormous burst of magic power earlier."

_"I'm flattered,"_ said sword replied, taking everyone but the headmaster by surprise.

"Huh. Talking sword," the Rider blinked in surprise.

"Ah, so this is the legendary GekiRyuKen," Konoemon commented. "The sword of the Madan Knight Ryukendo."

"Wait, you know about Ryukendo?" Shirou asked.

"I know of him," the headmaster confirmed. "Though his history is rather mysterious. No one knows who the original Ryukendo was, nor did anyone believe him to be more than a mere legend, lost to time. The only proof that he existed is his sword, which he recorded his personality and fighting knowledge into to ensure that a new Ryukendo can come forth with the necessary skills, if the world ever needed them."

"Wow," Shirou was surprised by all of this, to say the least. "So was it GekiRyuKen's magic that allowed me to transform?"

_"Nay, that was thy own magic power,"_ GekiRyuKen revealed. _"The Ryukendo transformation can only be used by someone with a magic signature identical to that of my original self, a strong heart, and my approval." _

"Oh, a Chosen One deal," Shirou commented. Then he took note of the 'magic power' comment. "Wait, I have magic power?!"

_"Yes, and quite a lot of it,"_ the sword confirmed. _"Though do to your lack of Ki reserves, you exhaust rather quickly when fighting. Though it was just enough to finish off the _Imagin_, as you call it, with the assistance of Sir Den-O here."_

"Don't mention it. Like I said, taking care of Imagin is kinda my job now," said Den-O waved the thank you off. Upon Shirou's questioning look, he took a guess and stated, "If you're wondering why I'm being so calm...well, considering everything else that's happened today, what would be the point? The talking sword...Ryukendo? Ryukendo is the least of my worries. For one thing, Headmaster, how do you know Owner?" he asked Konoemon.

"Oh, I've met him from time to time," Konoemon responded. "It was back in my youth when I first met him, when he was fighting an Imagin just like you were earlier, as the previous Den-O." This caught the attention of all the other occupants of the room. "Yes, I knew what the creature was the moment you two mentioned that it was immune to magic. And like you I learned that fact the hard way."

"Huh. I always thought Owner was a Time Lord," the new Den-O muttered to himself. Then, he turned back to Shirou. "Anyway, from the fact that you mentioned my Penname, you obviously must be a fan of mine," he noted.

"Fan? We practically talk to each other all the time on the forum," Shirou corrected.

"..." The Rider attempted to process that, mentally filtering Shirou and Wright through his brain.

He snapped his fingers. "Oh, it's you, Zero," he realized.

"Thank all that is holy that you figured it out," Shirou sighed. "Though I am worried about how you're here too. This is just like Remnants, we get sucked out of our world, and fall into the world that's fictional in ours." He looked towards Gan to see a reaction, but it seemed that the dark-skinned teacher was already made aware of this fact. No doubt the rest of the faculty was. "What's worse is I don't remember what caused that to draw a link to what's happening now."

"Hm? You forgot? It's because of {}'s stupid Space-Time Wrecker hitting the Chaos Emeralds, remember?" the Rider pointed out.

"Wait, who hit the Chaos Emeralds?" Shirou was confused for a moment before he brushed it off. "Never mind. Konoe-sensei, do you have any idea why the Imagin are appearing in this time period?" He didn't notice the Rider's confused expression.

"Unfortunately I don't," the headmaster replied. "Though I did manage to make contact with Owner-san, since I wanted to placate his worries over the missing Rider Pass, and discover that there are many more Imagin converging on one specific point in time and space. And unfortunately, that point is here in Mahora."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed. And could you blame them, the previous battles proved that normal magic tactics wouldn't work on the Imagin, and the chances of students making contracts was rather high if an Imagin found the right person. All in all, several lives, and the magical world's existence, could be put into great danger.

The Rider punched a fist into his other hand. "Well, if that's the case, then I need to get on DenLiner and get familiarized with everything. What's the time right now?" he asked of Takamichi.

"The time?" the teacher repeated before checking. "It's around 11:10. Why?"

"Perfect. Tell me when it hits 11:11, exactly," the Rider specified.

"Well, I'd say about 70 seconds," Takamichi answered. Shirou understood immediately.

"That's right, you can only enter the DenLiner when time lines up x:x:x."

"Exactly," the Rider mentioned, mentally counting down 70 plus the 11 needed for it to be 11:11:11. "By the way, you mentioned something about not remembering?" he remembered.

"Indeed," the headmaster confirmed. "For some reason, while Shirou-kun can remember the story of this world perfectly, he can not recall certain details of his own life. He can't even remember his own name."

"Wait, my name," Shirou interjected before he snapped his fingers. "Bingo! Oath, I told you my real name before, what is it?"

"You only told me your first name. I don't know your last name. Anyway, I should think that you wouldn't forget your own name, {}," the new Den-O pointed out.

Shirou was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Well, what is it?"

"Didn't he just say that your real name is {}?" Konoemon asked curiously.

"Are you teasing me, sir?" Shirou groaned.

_"I don't think so,"_ GekiRyuKen interjected. _"I believe that something is wrong. Tell me, Sir Oath, what is thy true name?"_

"Uh...I'm not comfortable saying my real name in this kind of situation," he said sheepishly.

_"Do it!"_ the sword demanded. _"This is a serious matter, and may have consequences for my partner!"_

"GekiRyuKen, what's going on?" Shirou asked, worried by his sword's tone.

"...Fine. My name is {}," the new Den-O sighed. Just then, he noted that it was 11:11. "11 seconds left," he noted, going to the door.

"Wait, you didn't say your name!" Shirou argued.

_"And therein lies the problem, he did say his name,"_ GekiRyuKen declared, drawing his wielder's attention. _"Shirou, doth thou remember Sir Oath's true name?"_

"Of course I do, it's...it's..." Shirou trailed off, with a horribly confused expression. "...I can't remember."

"Exactly," the sword confirmed. "Shirou, I do not believe that ye are suffering from simple amnesia. It appears that someone or something has placed a block upon thy mind." This was said just as the Rider opened the door to the Sands of Time.

"Wait, what?!" the new Den-O cried out in surprise, whipping around to look at them. In the process, though, he tripped over the doorframe and fell through the door. This had the effect of causing the door to slowly close.

"Oath, wait!" Shirou called as he raced towards the door. But by the time he got there, the door had already closed once, and opened to a normal school hallway. He collapsed to his knees in frustration. "Damn it." He then felt a calming hand on his shoulder once again.

"Don't fret so much," Konoemon consoled. "The DenLiner is a train of time, and it's not truly one way only. He'll turn up again." Shirou got back up with these comforting words.

"Yeah, you're right," Shirou sighed. Konoemon then had a look of realization.

"Oh yes, Shirou-kun?" he pulled out a chain necklace with a silver crown charm from his robe. "By any chance is this familiar to you?"

Shirou took the necklace from the mage's hand with a strange expression. "It does seem familiar. Where did you find it?"

"In your jacket. I had assumed that it may be a clue to your past," Konoemon explained. Shirou looked at the necklace intently, feeling that it was very important to him.

"It just might be," Shirou finally spoke as he slipped the chain around his neck. "Thank you Konoe-sensei."

"It's no problem. I just don't like seeing someone so young with such a lost expression," the headmaster explained in a joking manner before he suddenly got serious. "Though we will need to start preparing for future events. Such as your training. It would be unwise for you to enter battle unprepared like that again."

Shirou sighed at the lecture, but understood the headmaster's meaning behind it. "GekiRyuKen, you still up for that demonstration?"

_"Of course,"_ the sword replied. _"Thou shall need all of the assistance thou can get."_ Shirou knew this quite well considering what will come in the future. But still, with teachers like these and a friend close by, he was sure that he could get through this. Maybe.

**__**Episode 01 - Fin**__**

* * *

**_Variable Zero:_ Oh Shirou. You should hold on to that optimism as long as you can. After all, this is a Shounen-Shoujou Manga World.**

_**OathToOblivion: **_**Don't those usually have happy endings?**

**_Variable Zero:_ Yes, but the journey to said happy ending is quite painful. From villains and love interests alike. And don't get me _started _on the perverted ermine that all Negima fans know and love.**

_**OathToOblivion:**_ **...Can I step on him?**

**_Variable Zero:_ No, unfortunately, he is rather important to the plot. We'll just have to grin and bear with it...And laugh out loud whenever the girls give out their own brand of justice towards our perverted little friend.**

_**OathToOblivion:**_ **Friend? Since when?**

**_Variable Zero:_ Since he's practically our token-guide to the magical world when I can't bring certain things to mind? Look at it this way, we may get embarrassed by his antics, but he will be an invaluable friend in the long run. Now on to more important matters!**

**Next time on Mahou Rider Ryukendo: Climax Jump! \- Meet and Greet, the Chameleon attacks! **

**See you all next time!**


End file.
